


Not Where I'm Supposed to Be

by sansiva1203



Series: Zutara Week 2018 [7]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Element Swap, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 02:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15571668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sansiva1203/pseuds/sansiva1203
Summary: aang’s finally mastered earth and firebending, but he needs to find a waterbending teacher soon; what better element to take down the fire lord with than his opposite? it’s a strange day indeed when a guy who’s been trying to capture the gaang for the fire nation wants to teach aang waterbending instead.an au where kya is fire nation and ursa is water tribe. the princess of the southern water tribe isn’t supposed to be a firebender; the crown prince of the fire nation isn’t supposed to be a waterbender.





	Not Where I'm Supposed to Be

**Author's Note:**

> written for day 7 of zutara week 2018, based on prompts on tumblr. zuko's pov
> 
> for now, this is a one-shot, but i think it ends kind of abruptly so i might make it a two-shot later.
> 
> also, i'll be adding a chapter to "tattoos and turtleducks" tomorrow, so stay tuned!

i know i’m in the wrong. i know that it’s my own fault that they don’t trust me. but come on, does this friggin water tribe girl have to keep an eye on me the entire night?

i’m sure she thinks i’m hostile. i did try to capture them a couple of times. okay, possibly for three years? but it was for a good reason, it really was. 

i needed some sort of way to make up my heritage to my father. of course, uncle tells me i have nothing to prove to him; it’s not my fault his wife ended up having water tribe blood in her, but of course i’m the one who’s punished.

the stupid scar, too. that makes everything a million times worse. which is the whole reason i’m here in the first place.

despite father’s many qualms against me, uncle insisted i be trained in waterbending. azula, of course, got private lessons with father from the ripe age of six, but i had to be trained in secret. not that i had bad instructors, mind you; just because i was a disgrace didn’t mean father would hire anyone less than qualified, but it was rather hard getting looks of pity and disgust when father announced i was a non bender. i would never get the crown.

it’s all behind me now. i’m a master waterbender, and after finally ( _ finally)  _ heeding the words of uncle, i’ve decided to help the avatar learn waterbending, but of course it couldn’t be that simple.

i started off hurting one of them. not intentionally, but still bad enough. that damn earthbender girl snuck up on me, looking to investigate, but she slipped on the ice i sent her way, twisting her ankle. she can’t walk now, and can barely “see”. oops. i offered to heal it, but they not so respectfully denied. i guess i can’t blame them for that.

now the water tribe girl has me tied up to a tree. she’s sitting a few feet in front of me, not shivering at all despite the chill air. i guess she’s used to it, growing up in the south pole, but still.

i can tell that she’s epically mad at me. i can tell by the way her eyes keep shifting over to my bonds, double checking that they’re tied as tight as humanly possible. but i think she might plead my case. if i could just appeal to her, make her see my side, i know it’d earn me some points with the rest of the group. she seems to be their mom. maybe she’s a waterbender too! i could offer to help her out as well. that would work. i think.

“hey,” i start meekly. don’t want to piss her off too fast. she immediately snaps her head towards me to meet my eyes. the sudden movement throws me off my metaphorical feet for a moment. blinking once, i focus again and start making my argument.

“you know i’m not here to hurt any of you, right? i swear, my intentions are nothing but pure.” i can see the fierceness in her eyes bubble up.

“and you think we should believe you?” she’s really mad, and gets up onto her feet to make her way closer to me. 

“you’ve done nothing but harm us! you were loyal to your father, and you sent people after us to  _ kill  _ us.” i’m starting to get scared now, but she’s just getting started.

“you think you’re so much better than us, with your fancy clothes and your posh accent and all of the babying you had as a kid. what, did your mom not love you enough as a baby? is that why you’re like this?”

oh agni, has she gotten herself into a mess.

“do not,” i whisper with a low growl, “insult my mother.”

she’s intrigued now, but seems to take pleasure in egging me on. 

“oh, wow, is the wittle fire nation prince too scared to talk about his mommy?” she’s playing with fire now, but i can sense the hesitation behind her taunting words. it still angers me to no end.

“i said, back the hell off!” my voice is louder now, but no less deeper. i can tell she’s getting scared.

“why? tell me why! not enough fond memories of mommy holding you?” she’s near screaming now, and i let go.

“yes! yes, okay? yes i don’t have enough happy memories of her and yes she didn’t love me enough and yes bringing her up is going to friggin piss me off!” i’m getting maniacal now, thank agni she’s finally backing off. i’ve still got some fight left in me though.

“you wanna know why? you wanna friggin why? because my douchebag father friggin killed her. he killed her because she was water tribe and made the friggin mess that turned out to be me and i’ll never see her again…” my anger dissipates and gives way to tears. agni, i can’t believe i’m crying in front of this girl who wants to kill me.

i didn’t realize i said that aloud until she responds quietly into the night. “i don’t quite want to kill you.”

my dumb brain takes too long to recognize what she said. “you… you don’t?” i’m still sniffling back tears, and she’s suddenly right in front of me. close enough for me to feel her breaths. they’re hot and steamy. almost like azula’s. but no… she couldn’t be. she’s water tribe. right?

“i…” she starts talking, but seems to lose the confidence. “the fire nation took away my mother away from me too.” it sounds like this story’s deeply personal to her, but she’s telling me anyway.

“they had been looking for her for ages, you know. she wasn’t royalty or anything, but the daughter of a pretty important noble. she disappeared nearly twenty years before they came for her, because they had gotten a tip she went to the southern water tribe. had married a man there. had a son and a daughter.

“they took her in front of me. said she was a blood traitor. asked whether there were any bastard children who’d she’d given her fire blood to. asked if any of her whoring out had given the gift of fire to anyone as filthy as a water tribesman. when i was nearly seven.” katara seems to have lost the emotion in her voice, as a bone chilling laugh comes out of her. 

“she lied to save my life.” i didn’t quite understand; the gift of fire? but katara holds out a hand, palm facing up, and suddenly i can see shadows dancing along her face and all of her features look sharp and clean cut. and i understand why she hasn’t shivered a single time this entire night. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! every view, kudos, and comment truly makes my day and means so much for me, so if you think the fic is deserving, leave kudos and comments please!
> 
> come yell at me on tumblr: find me at veridian-nougat


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